The First Step
by zerohour20xx
Summary: A single moment, a single event in the Chamber of Secrets will change the Fate of the world from a single end, to a road of infinite possibilities. This is the Prologue to my series HP fanfics known as Infinite Paths.


The First Step...

A/N: This is my first pure Harry Potter story. This story is a one-shot since it is the basis of the next three (so far) Harry Potter stories that I have planned. I like the way that I can go with this original idea and will use this one-shot as the start of the other stories, rather than putting it in every story over and over again.

_Italics- Parseltongue, mysterious voice, spells, and the Sorting Hat talking_

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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Harry looked as the memory of Tom Riddle caused the mouth of the carved face of Salazar Slytherin to open and he watched as the "King of snakes" slithered from it's mouth. This had to be one of the most fearful moments of his life as he faced the vastly overgrown basilisk and, while trying to avoid looking in its eyes, he had gotten his wand broken after the giant snake lunged at him on Riddle's orders and crushed the floor beneath him and sent him into the wall. It had been bad timing really because moments later Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix companion, came from the opening to the chamber and started to claw at the basilisk's eyes and Harry felt something fall onto his head, it was the Sorting Hat.

"_Hurry young student, reach into me and grab that which will save you from this peril." _the hat said. Harry was surprised but did as it said and reached in. He could feel something fall into the palm of his hand so he gripped onto it and slowly pulled it from the dark depths that were within the hat. As he pulled out...whatever it was...he saw as it started coming out, something on it started gleaming in the small bit of light that was in the chamber. When it was finally was fully out of the hat he saw that it was a sword. But this wasn't any sword but the sword of one of the four Founders of Hogwarts,Godric Gryffindor.

The basilisk reared its head back again and hissed. "A little sword is no match for my basilisk. _Kill him! Kill the boy!_" Tom Riddle hissed in Parseltongue. Harry barely had enough time to lift the sword as the basilisk lunged at him again, only this time it's lunge sent the sword in Harry's hands straight into it's brain but the snake still did it's damage as a venom-covered tooth pierced Harry's shoulder.

As the basilisk died, the tooth that was embedded in Harry's shoulder broke off from the mouth. Harry pulled the sword out of the head of the snake and sagged when the venom and blood covered blade finally was free. His vision started to blur, not the like that it normally was without glasses but he felt like he did have much time left. His heart dropped when he heard a chuckle from in the chamber.

"Poor little Harry, after all that and now it was meaningless. I still live and with your coming death my rebirth is ensured, the rebirth and return of Lord Voldemort!" Riddle said as he started laughing maniacally. Harry slowly edged over to the motionless body of Ginny Weasley and the book that laid near her. He dropped to his knees in pain as he reached the diary and saw that words were still appearing on the pages.

He grabbed the root of the tooth that was embedded in his shoulder and started to see red as pain unlike any he had felt before rushed his body. It took several pulls but with one final and strong pull, the tooth left his shoulder. "You will not be reborn, Riddle. I will see to it that it doesn't happen today." Harry said with his voices filled with his own pain as he plunged the sharp tip of the basilisk fang into the diary. As the tooth went through the diary, it erupted into a spout of ink and released an ear-piercing shriek. Harry released a pain chuckle as the specter of Tom Riddle faded from existence and he fell to the cold ground of the Chamber.

Harry could feel his body starting to lose its warmth before he heard a flapping noises and saw Fawkes land near his shoulder and was amazed by what happened when he felt something wet hit his shoulder wound. The pain slowly went away and he could feel himself warming up as the tears of the phoenix hit the wound and a wave of heat came from the magical bird.

Harry stayed on the cold floor for a little while longer so that he could gather some of his strength and the warmth from Fawkes seemed to allow him to get his strength back quicker. He slowly got up from the ground and lifted Ginny from the ground with the destroyed diary, the basilisk fang, the sword of Gryffindor, and his broken wand. He slowly got her to the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets but he couldn't find a way get her and himself out until he got an idea. "_Stairs_." he hissed and a circling staircase descended from the opening above him and came down to the floor. Harry sighed in relief as he walked up the staircase and into the girl's bathroom where the entrance to the Chamber was.

As he walked out, he was assaulted by the boy that he had thought was his friend last and this year. "You were suppose to save her not kill her, you git!" Ron yelled at the shaken boy. The yelling from Ron attracted the elder Weasleys and Professor McGonagall but they couldn't do much as Ron punched Harry in the face, causing him to drop Ginny and everything else that was in his hands. Harry's head it the side of one of the sinks and sent him into unconsciousness.

[?]

Slowly, the eyes of Harry Potter opened as he came face to face with a snake that was more horrifying thane even the basilisk had been with blood-red and black scales and an almost demonic looking appearance. It looked nearly as long as the basilisk had been but it was at least twice as thick and as its mouth opened, venom dripped from its fangs and hissed like acid as it hit the invisible floor of the black void.

As the snake lunged at Harry, he was forced to run as fast as he could from it as his wand was no where in sight and as he kept running he eventually reached a what appeared to be a forest, this seemed much better than the black void he had been in but the snake was still after him. It felt like hours as he ran through the thick brush of ivy and tree limbs that slowed his progress in the forest and allowed the snake to almost catch up to him until he heard a guttural growl echo from every direction around him before he saw a black blur and then heard sounds of the snake's cries in agony before the furred being was sent back when it was hit by the snake's tail. Harry tried to see what the creature had been as well as the unusual noises that he was hearing in the distance but his sight started to blur as he was blinded by a white flash.

Harry tentatively opened his eyes and saw that he was standing on a white floor with a black sky and surroundings. Just as he thought that nothing was in the area but him, a red and orange flash appeared in his peripheral vision and he rolled to the side to see that it was a rushing fire that had appeared out of no where only to then be washed out by a wave of water. As he watched that water ebb back, a gust of wind nearly blew him over before getting colder and colder, causing the water to freeze and then rise up as spires of ice that continued to reach up higher and higher until each was struck and shattered by lightning that rained down from the black sky and then the ground started to shake.

Just as Harry thought that nothing could be weirder, several images of animals flashed in his mind: a fox, a phoenix, a dragon, a wolf, a snake, a lion, a gryphon, an owl, and a tiger. The information that had passed through his mind so suddenly was too much for him to handle though and he found his sight going to black.

[BREAK]

Harry didn't know how long he had blacked out but he found himself in the Hospital ward of Hogwarts and his ears were filled with sounds of voices arguing. It sounded like it was Mrs. Weasley yelling with someone but the Hospital ward walls dampened the sound of the voice so he couldn't hear every word. "...his fault...my daughter...too dangerous around...insane...payments...last chance..." was all that Harry was able to hear and they all confused him greatly in his dazed state of mind.

'The last thing I remember was...Ron. He blamed me for Ginny getting hurt when I was the one that went into the Chamber alone after Lockhart tried to Obliviate us. I was the one that risked his life to save Ginny and yet him and his family blame me for her getting hurt it seems.' Harry thought to himself as he sits up in the hospital bed. 'Then there was that weird dream I had. What was with that black blur and the red snake, the fire and unusual weather changes, and all of those animals? I wonder what it all means...' he thought to himself.

He noticed that the loud voice from the next room had finally stopped as he heard the door to the hospital ward open to show Dumbledore and Mrs. Wesley standing in the doorway. "I am sorry, Harry, but I am afraid that you will have to forget all that you have heard. _Obliviate_." Dumbledore said a white flash was the last thing that Harry saw.

[Three weeks later]

It had been more than a month since Harry had gone down into the Salazar's chamber to save Ginny and the one things that he knew was pain, if it wasn't the constant aches from his body then it was the shooting pains that periodically ravaged his head to the point that he believed his head was going to explode. All Harry could remember was bringing Ginny out of the Chamber of Secrets and the constant dream that he had been having while unconscious. The dream had consisted of unusual creatures, the wrath of every element possible, and whispers of voices that he couldn't place in his mind.

Dumbledore had told Harry that he had been unconscious for most of the remanding school year and that all that remained was the end of year feast as exams had been canceled due to the previous attacks on the students and the remaining week was merely free time for the students. Now he looked up at the white ceiling bored and alone, Ron had not visited him once except for when he had pulled Hermione out of the room the one time she had visited him.

Today was thankfully the day he was getting out of this bed and he only need to wait for Madam Pomfrey to release him and he was starting to get anxious from being stuck in the same bed for more than a month. It was at that moment that Harry remembered a very important fact. "My wand...it broke down in the Chamber." Harry said to himself sullenly.

Without that wand, he was defenseless. He had feared the loss of his connection to magic as soon as he discovered that he was a wizard. More than that, he feared losing the only connection to his parents that he had left. Until his eleventh birthday, he had always been told that they were drunks and lazy and that they had died in a car crash but on that fateful day of his eleventh birthday, he learn that there was another world that his parents had belonged to, the world of magic. Since that day, he had felt like he had found a way to finally be close to his parents.

In a desperate move by a scared boy, Harry tried to physically reconnect to his magic by concentrating on everything that he remembered of its feel. What he believed would end in nothing but depression actually brought a result, he could feel his magic. He could feel the shape that his magic held in his body, it seemed to back what Hermione had told him about the "magical core" of every witch and wizard. It felt like a warm orb rested inside his chest and it soothed him.

It took Madame Pomfrey ten minutes to give him a final check-up and then he was out of the Hospital ward hopefully for the last time this year, considering it was the end of the term. Harry headed up to the Gryffindor dorm to pack his belongings. It didn't take long considering he didn't have many things other than his school supplies, Hedwig, and his Nimbus 2000. Taking his trunk, owl, and broom, Harry walked out of the castle for the carriages as the end of year feast had ended an hour before he was released from the Hospital ward. The last two years past through his mind as the carriage move towards the Hogwarts Express without Ron or Hermione. He had tried to talk to them but Ron had kept Hermione from talking to him and every time Harry looked at Ron, he continually got the feeling of being punched.

The memories of how he was seen by the magical world ever since he entered Diagon Alley, the sudden immersion into this new culture, meeting the Weasleys at Platform 9 ¾, protecting the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort, and the Chamber of Secrets this year. As much as he tried, he couldn't make full sense of it nor could he ignore how each of these incidents had an off feeling about them. Harry knew that he would have to be more proactive in his life from now on, all that matter was when he started. Little did Harry know that this would be his first step. His first step, on a journey with infinite paths.

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And that is the end of this one-shot. This is the beginning of my series of Harry Potter stories that I have named _**Infinite Paths**_. To answer a few questions, I have not made anyone truly evil or dark at this point. I will not do a fanfic in this series that starts pre-Hogwarts or first/second year. They may allude to memories or flashbacks but I will not cover them in depth. If any readers have ideas for this series, leave them in your reviews. I am doing these with different pairings and events for each story but I will **NOT** do a slash or yaoi pairing.


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